No More Music Piracy, Por Favor

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No More Music Piracy, Por Favor

When the Mexican Supreme Court moved some of its offices last week to a quieter workspace, few federal officials saw it as anything more than a sensible relocation.

After all, the court is located smack in the middle of Mexico City, surrounded by traffic, street vendors and crowds of tourists and commuters.

The Recording Industry Association of America, however, saw things differently. According to the RIAA, the court's relocation was directly related to music piracy.

Shortly after getting wind of the move, the RIAA drafted an open letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox, urging his government to crack down on vendors of pirated CDs. The recording industry trade group blamed vendors they say were blasting pirated music from boom boxes outside for disturbing the justices' peace.

"This would be almost laughable if it were not true," said Hilary Rosen, RIAA chairman and CEO, in a statement. Rosen said the office-moving incident highlights the fact that piracy in Mexico rages out of control.

The RIAA's statement did not include an analysis of the expense of unilaterally ending piracy compared to, say, moving offices or installing double-paned windows.

Moreover, noise experts note that the blasting of pirated music is certainly not the only source of dissonance on city streets.

"Noise is creeping up everywhere, especially in urban settings," said Hans Schmid, president of the Right to Quiet Society. The popularity of blasting loud music poses a problem for noise-sensitive people regardless of whether the recordings are pirated or obtained legally.

An RIAA spokeswoman said the organization is aware that illegal CDs are not the only source of loud noise in downtown Mexico City, but nonetheless believes piracy-related disturbances are a particularly pressing concern.

The group drafted the call for a piracy crackdown after a Reuters article detailed the court's decision to move some of its operations to a less hectic part of the city. In the article, a court spokesman cited problems with street vendors selling goods outside the building, along with loud music emanating from pirated CD stalls.